My Stewardship of 10439

[opethmike]

Be sure to give the car a hug once a week. They like that, and will behave nicely. That Michael guy is ruggedly handsome. DeLoreans are fun. Mine goes vroom vroom vroom, but most go vroom.

Also, snow happens because somewhere a sasquatch has not been properly using his dandruff shampoo.

[JETS 81 DMC]

Home safe, no major glitches. Very tired, will post some pics and stuff tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

Attachment 54968

And you have a picture to put on your 2018 Christmas cards.
Congratulations.

[Jonathan]

I still have to drive from Knoxville to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Off the top of my head:

170mph speedo just lethargically lags between 30-50mph when my GPS has me moving between 60 and 80. I don't like that speedo anyway, and the car came with the stock 85mph, so I hope putting the original back in will kill two birds with one stone.
Temp gauge never seems to wander too far from that unmaked notch near "150" or whatever. This is either really awesome or really bad, I'm guessing.
Car pulls to the right at all times, a complaint that two owners ago mentioned in 2012. Not great.
Car has vibration felt in the steering wheel. Best guess is a bad bushing up front. Tires are new Falkens that are properly inflated. I am guessing they are not OEM size though since it's a name brand and all the tread matches. I say that because I thought maybe it was wonky tires but they look great, need to check build date.
Dome light inoperable.
Headlight button functional but worn, cosmetically displeasing.
Driver door needs assistance to open fully, can almost get there but needs a slight nudge. Will probably replace the gas struts as a pair.
BTTF sticker and DOA stickers need to go.
Air Conditioning makes a weird cyclic whine every 8 seconds or so in some modes. Silence for 6 seconds then a 2 second whine, repeats until I turn it to another mode. Blows cold.
Shifter could be tighter, wish it were "notchier."
Power for the aftermarket stereo runs too close to some wiring somewhere so when I accelerate I get feedback whine. Liveable but annoying that it wasn't installed correctly.

Brakes are from the 80s, steering too.

Heater works great.
Headlights are fantastic.

PO gave me a case of oil filters, they're black. Probably came from DMCMW but not sure.

This is not a direct request for solutions, just making a list while it's fresh in my mind. Always happy to hear thoughts, too.

Home safe, no major glitches. Very tired, will post some pics and stuff tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

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Love that picture! That's great! Congrats on getting your car and home safely with it.

A couple thoughts on your list of quirks:

- the A/C cycling is normal. More or less. Not very normal for a new car, but typical for the DeLorean. The cycling on and off is when the compressor is needed or it isn't depending on the pressure of the refrigerant, how hard the system needs to work (aka how cold outside it is), what setting you have the A/C on, etc., etc. If it is coming on and blowing cold when asked to, you're ahead of the game vs many cars. You can check it more thoroughly later which can include confirming how much refrigerant is in the system and whether it needs more.

- braking system from the 80s is fine if still of the 80s design, but shouldn't still be using all the same original components your specific car came with from the 80s. Meaning, you'll want to take each wheel off, inspect rotors, calipers and pads, the brake fluid reservoir and condition and level of fluid, condition of flexible lines at each wheel, etc. It may not need an entire overhaul if done somewhat recently, but changing out the fluid and the seals (and maybe the pistons) inside the calipers along with the pads is a good idea. Parking brake components should be inspected as well.

- With the engine temperature sitting in one spot, it could be something significant or it could be nothing. Some of the gauges are better for relative references than an absolute value (meaning, where does the needle usually sit on your car and compare that to future times you drive it. When it does something other than what it always does, then you might have a problem). I would run some tests while in favorable conditions (i.e. your garage or driveway) and confirm the cooling fans come on when they should and cool the car down when it is just sitting there idling. Those are easy tests and we can walk you through them.

- Steering vibration can indeed be a bad steering column bushing. Can also be other things like tires being out of round or not balanced (i.e. the wheel weights came off). You can take all four to a tire shop for rebalancing and it'll be less than $50 for the whole set. You can check your braking system while the wheels are off too.

- Give your door struts a chance to work in warmer temperatures if you like. They are (ambient) temperature sensitive and don't work very well when it is really cold outside. I think the sweet spot (for just about all aspects on the car for that matter) is around 70 deg F. They are going to have a tendency to droop in the winter. That being said, they may just be weak and need replacing. Door struts seem to be a wear and tear item and last around 3 years or so for some owners.

Congrats again and Happy New Year.

[dodint]

I wrote this for a more general audience but I'll put it here for now. I'll come back later this week and respond to your individual comments and suggestions but I wanted to share my initial impressions and travel story:

We flew down to Atlanta on Saturday morning and rented a car (Chrysler 300) to make the one hour drive up to Monroe, GA to pick up the car. Everything checked out so we gave them the certified check and got on our way; he is using the funds from the DMC sale to build a Cobra replica. The plane was really late taking off in Pittsburgh as it had about 4" of fresh snow on it from sitting overnight and took over an hour to deice. It really put a crunch on us as I wanted to be to my uncles before sunset, but that didn't happen.



Took off right into the Georgia hills after doing some basic checks on systems, tire pressure, etc. It would be a 4hr (199mi) trip through the Appalachian hills.





Scraped the 'Flux' sticker, the NY inspection sticker, and the DeLorean Owners Association stickers off when I got home.

The condition of the mechanicals of the car is quite good. It started every time whether it was 20F at 8am or after a quick fuel fill up. It started strong every time, never hesitated.
I only poured gas into the cargo area once when I turned my back while filling. No big deal, it's just full of papers and clothes, right?



A few hours into the hills, about 30 minutes before getting to the Tail of the Dragon, we stopped at a Huddle House because the roadside stand that we planned to stop at was closed for the season. Never been to a Huddle House, it's basically a Denny's that could fit in a gas station (and some do).



For those that may not know the Tail of the Dragon, this is it:



By the time we got there it was dark. I've driven it a few times in an E46 BMW during the day but nothing like this. The DMC has no power steering, ABS, and is RR configuration. I think it actually handled very well. The steering makes it feel MUCH heavier than the car actually is, but at speed that kind of melts away. The car did feel different than anything else I've driven, you can of place the car where you need it to be at apex and then lay into the throttle, but not sooner. The grip was there immediately if you did this but the threat of understeer really keeps you from mashing the throttle too soon, at least for me.
It was a bit of a workout, I didn't push it too much and it was scary when trucks were coming the other direction as you'd lose your night vision and the next turn is only a few meters away. The only real scare we had was when I dropped the rear passenger wheel partially off the crumbling roadway. It was adjacent to a jutting rock wall and we sincerely thought that I had torn a hole in the rear quarter stainless panel. We stopped at the end and there was no visual damage, we think that when I put the wheel off it kicked debris up into the fiberglass pontoon and made an awful impacting *thunk* but left no visual evidence of an impact.
Part of me wishes I had recorded the run; the rest of me is happy to have the memory to myself as I perceived it in time.

My uncle lives about 10 miles from the Tennessee side of the Dragon, and we stayed there for the night. Here it is parked next to his SCCA prepped Saturn, though he hasn't touched it in 8 years:



He actually offered me the Saturn for free and all of the custom parts he had fabricated for it but I'm really working towards the SE46 project and I feel like I'd end up neglecting it as much as he has if I accepted. I'll keep it in the back of my mind for now.

We took off around 9am for the 8 hour (520mi) drive. It was chilly but dry in TN and VA, but by the time we got to WV and PA it was about 15F at mid day and the roads were a mixture of slush, salt, and ice. Car handled fine on the interstate at what I assume was 80mp or so. There is a vibration up front from either the steering column bushing or perhaps a control arm bushing, but it didn't kill the ride. We stopped in Morgantown for dinner:



And we got home, in the dark again, about two hours later.





Last night I hosed it down as best I could, being sure to get as much into the suspension, brakes, frame, and other attachments as I could. Engine bay is pretty easy to clean for obvious reasons. This morning when I woke up I drove it down to the car wash about a half a mile away and had the car cleaned that way which includes and underbody spray and protectant. Then I put it in the garage and hosed it down one more time. I'm not too concerned with salt but wanted to take whatever preventative measure I could. Now the garage has the DMC and the MINI it it, with the 650 in the driveway. Bad timing as it's not forecasted to get about 20F for the foreseeable future. Oh well, the price you pay. I'm either going to take it to my MILs and put it in her spare garage bay, or keep it here and just endure the cold with my daily driver. There are some small projects I can work on until spring comes.

Driving the car is really interesting. I will say that the driving position and pulling the door down right before setting off gives you that fun Le Mans LMP feeling even if the car doesn't have the guts to back it up. It's surprisingly comfortable over 8 hours, my wife said she was comfortable the whole time and I was fine. Once you get on the interstate and drop it into 5th you can just lean back and relax.

Sort of.

One of the things that I anticipated but didn't fully grasp was just how much attention this car gets on the road. I assumed the gas station comments would come, and they did, and that's fine. But the dumb shit people do on the highway is astounding. Lots of people would speed up to catch up to me and then either pace next to me or speed up to get by and then slow down again to get a look. Ash said people were taking pics and shooting video. I drive assertively and defensively but I have a hard time doing so in this car because everyone around me is so unpredictable. I'll just have to drive more cautiously but it's not always in my hands. We were on I-79 and we could see for miles in both directions, a jacked up F150 pulled alongside and literally drove off of the road while gawking at the car. Just, amazing.

Anyway, I've been studying these cars for 21 years and it still hasn't sunk in that I have one downstairs. It probably won't until something expensive breaks.

[Michael]

Stunning looking car man, I don't know why but I really like that first pic in the garage. I guess I just never see one dirty and it still looks so good!!

[Dangermouse]

Congrats.

Out of curiosity (and education) how did you get a PA plate without a title?

[mrpeterman]

Congrats.

Out of curiosity (and education) how did you get a PA plate without a title?

It may be the same as Maine, where 1994 and below a title is not required to register the car, only the bill of sale.

[dodint]

It's from the Mustang SVT Cobra I sold a few months ago. The choice was either drive with a GA plate that wasn't mine, drive with no plate which always raises suspicion, or drive with the plate that (could) eventually be on the car once I get the title. With the Bill of Sale and insurance documents in the glove box I went with the path of least resistance. I could legally drive it without the plate just fine with the Bill of Sale but this was just the easiest way to keep the lowest profile.

That said, I'm titling it as an Antique vehicle so it won't actually wear that plate. The antique vehicle statute in PA is really lienant:

No person may operate a vehicle with antique or classic registration plates for commercial purposes or for general daily transportation. Permitted use is limited to participation in club activities, exhibits, tours, parades and similar uses, and for occasional transportation. Occasional transportation means no more than 1 day a week.

By the way I'm reading that I can drive to work on Wednesday AND go to Cars and Coffee on Saturday without being in violation of the statute. The 'occasional transportation' clause can also be loosely interpreted as '52 days per year of occasional transport' which is an argument I wouldn't hesitate to bring in front of a judge if it made it that far.

In PA, an antique vehicle is lifetime registration for $75 that does not require emissions or safety inspections. $100 more if you want a personalized plate (4 characters).

[DaraSue]

Personally I interpret the "club activities" bit to mean if I stop at Costco at some point during the day, it's all good. Since it doesn't actually specify "car clubs".

Anyway, glad you, the car and the missus made it home in one piece and unfrozen! You might want to keep it in your own garage just so you can go sit in it whenever you want, haha...

[dodint]

Was parsing through the binder of receipts the car came with. Found a bunch of scans of old titles going back to 1992, and also this picture:



The snapshot was captioned "#1 Owner Bob Cleary" and has a southeast Ohio are code. I googled the number and found a couple of ads for an airplane and hot air balloons, seems like the guy has had an interesting life.

If figure this shot is either from the 1992 sale to the second owner (at about 11,000 miles) or when he first got it in 1982. Not sure.